Research Fellow in Energy Efficiency and Innovation

SPRU – Science and Technology Policy Research

University of Sussex -School of Business, Management and Economics

Ref: 112

Full time, Fixed Term for two years, with possibility of extension

Salary range: starting at £30,424 and rising to £36,298 per annum

Expected start date: July 2013 or as soon as possible thereafter

Applications are invited for a Research Fellow to join a new £3.7 million Research Centre on Innovation and Energy Demand, led by the Sussex Energy Group (SEG). This full time position is initially for a period of 24 months, with a possible extension to five years. The Sussex Energy Group at SPRU is one of the UK’s largest independent energy policy research groups and is a core partner in the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and the UK Energy Research Centre.

The Centre begins work in June 2013 and is a collaboration between an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Sussex Energy Group, the Sustainable Consumption Institute at the University of Manchester and the Transport Studies Unit at the University of Oxford. The Centre intends to use a range of social science research methods to examine how ‘low-energy innovations’ emerge, how they diffuse and what impacts they have. It will conduct a series of research projects under each of these themes, as well as cross-cutting projects and wide-ranging stakeholder engagement activities. Initial research topics include low carbon urban transport, the energy implications of 3D printing, explaining successes and failures in low energy innovation, the diffusion of energy service contracting, the estimation of rebound effects and the evaluation of household energy efficiency policy.

SEG wishes to appoint a highly motivated individual with suitable academic experience to contribute to this research programme. The candidate will initially play a key role in a project on The diffusion of energy service contracting in the UK. This project involves interview-based and documentary research and draws upon ideas from economics, innovation studies and business studies. In parallel and subsequently, the candidate will also contribute to other Centre research projects and activities, as well as to the broader work of the Sussex Energy Group.

The successful candidate will have

a PhD in a relevant area (e.g. economics, innovation studies or similar);
a track record of high quality research and publication in the area of energy policy or related fields;
good knowledge of economics, innovation studies and/or other relevant disciplinary approaches;
knowledge of academic and policy debates around energy efficiency;
highly developed skills in communicating with diverse audiences;